In the record’s title track, Bellamy sings; “We need a revolution so long as we stay free”, a sentiment that comes from the growing concerns held by the band’s frontman in a world of terrifying acts in global politics. He stated; “It’s a worrying time because there is a chance here. There’s a window for a lovely new kind of political model or socio-economic structure that could be really good. A good change is possible, but the problem is you have these authoritarians that are realising that they can capitalise on disruption.

The term “authoritarians” refers to Donald Trump whom the musician formerly described as; “represent[ing] the worst of the worst. What he did was destroy the country by creating massive division,”

He later added; “By any measure, a great leader is somebody who can unify their own people against external threats, and he’s done the exact opposite of that. He made them all turn against each other, and that’s what actually caused the whole of the West to become vulnerable enough where Putin can do what he’s doing now… It’s his complete lack of knowledge about the forces that unify the West like NATO and liberal democracy that has caused this chaos.”

In regards to who Bellamy thought contributed most to the fallout of Trump’s four-year car crash in the oval office. He said; “I’d say it’s more a case of Putin [thinking], ‘Let’s encourage the chaos – the division’. And the more he could create this dismantling of the West, the more likely he was to be able to get away with what he’s been wanting to do for a long time, which is reclaim the old Soviet states.”

You can find the full interview here, in which Bellamy engages with many other of the world’s most pressing problems.

Elsewhere, Muse kicked off their summer tour on the 4^th of June 2022 at AM Ring. Featuring works across their entire catalogue (and some new material in the form of the unreleased track “Kill Or Be Killed”).  Information and tickets can be found here.

Will Of The People is currently available to be pre-ordered at the band’s official website.

Sir Elton has recently attempted to reach out to Russian Vladimir Putin in order to discuss LGBT rights in Russia, or perhaps more accurately a lack of LGBT rights. This was of course expected to be met with a refusal from the Kremlin or just plain ignored; what was not expected was an apparent phone call from Putin to Sir Elton.

Sir Elton took to social media to announce this remarkable turn of events:

Thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today. I look to forward to meeting with you face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia. @president_vladimir_putin @ejaf #lgbt #lgbtrights #ShareTheLove

A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Sep 14, 2015 at 8:11am PDT

However earlier on today it has been made apparent that no such phone call took place. With a spokesperson for President Putin saying that:

“I don’t know who spoke to Elton John but President Putin did not speak to him,” he said.

“I don’t know [what happened] but President Putin did not speak to Elton John and most importantly we didn’t receive any proposals to meet.”

Yet the spokesperson for Putin went on to say that whilst no such phone call has taken place; there is the potential for one in the future:

“I don’t doubt that if there is such a request, the president will be ready to meet with Elton John among others to give answers to all the questions that he might ask,” The Guardian reported he told journalists. “But we haven’t received such signals yet.”

Making it clear that whilst there is still the potential for this phone call to take place, it has yet to do so thus Sir Elton has not had direct contact with Putin. With the spokesperson for the President doubting the validity of the phone call Sir Elton has taken, even remarking that it might have been a hoax phone call.

This carry on between a musical legend and a leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world came to particular prominence only after Sir Elton visited neighbouring Ukraine to discuss LGBT rights and equality at the Yes Ukraine conference.

Speaking at today's #YESUkraine2015 Conference in Kiev about the importance of LGBT equality and support in the workplace. We need Ukrainian businessmen and power brokers to create a more inclusive and tolerant society. We need this everywhere! @ejaf @davidfurnish #lgbtrights #lgbt #ShareTheLove

A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Sep 12, 2015 at 11:47am PDT

Sir Elton had this to say on the matter, speaking to the BBC:

“I’d love to meet him [Putin], I’d love to sit down and talk to him. It’s probably pie in the sky but unless you try, unless you put your foot in the water, your toe in the water … at least if I meet him and say, ‘Listen, come on, let’s have a cup of tea, let’s talk about this’, he might laugh behind my back and then he shuts the door and call me an absolute idiot but at least I can have a conscience and say I’d tried.”

With the comment from President Putin’s spokesperson saying that the President is potentially willing to discuss human rights with Sir Elton, we can be sure that this is the last we will hear from the pair on this topic; even more so with Putin’s spokesperson denying that any such phone call has already happened.

UPDATE:

It has emerged earlier today that two comedians (Alexei ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov  and Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Krasnov) played the part of Vladimir Putin and his apparent translator ‘Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Krasnov’ when ringing Elton John; audio footage of the phone call has also been publicised by Russian TV. You can listen to it here.